Montgomery Bus Boycott

In December of 1955, Alabama was stirring up a remarkable plan for social change. The events that took place in 1950’s Alabama would later become known as the nation’s largest catalyst for social change ever made: the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was on Thursday, December 1, 1955, when seamstress, Rosa Parks, changed the course of history. After refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on the heavily segregated bus, Parks was arrested at the scene and charged with violation of Montgomery’s city code. Parks’ arrest along with the arrests of other black women stirred anger amongst the black community in the South, eventually leading up to some of the most pivotal events of our history: the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was birthed in the hands of the marchers and voices involved in the year-long boycott, and without the changes made within the protests, the Civil Rights Movement itself would not exist today. As an event crucial to the history of America, the Montgomery Bus Boycotts of 1956 should remain in the new textbook for it served as a major catalyst for the progression of the Civil Rights Movements, as culturally, it began to steer America away from its, then, white supremacist ideals, as socially, it allowed for the development of grassroot organizations, giving African Americans a larger voice within politics, and as politically, it inspired legislation to pass laws legally banning segregation on buses, allowing for further declaration of unconstitutional segregation.

If not one of the most beneficial results of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the development of black voices and representation within grassroots organizations was a huge help for America’s push into the Civil Rights Movements. Socially, the boycotts allowed black men, women, and children a reason to come together. It brought the black community to the forefront of politics and social change, and it allowed them to excel to the front lines of peaceful and nonviolent protests. Through this, the black community began to ignore the historically racist expectations placed onto them and instead went out to organize nonviolent ways of bringing light to the issue. In fact, Alabama’s local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter took it upon their hands to organize a large scale boycott against Montgomery’s city buses. On the morning of December 5, 1955, the day of Rosa Parks’ trial, group leaders “gathered at the Mount Zion Church in Montgomery” learning that their efforts demanded a new level of “organization and strong leadership” (Biography.com Editors). This prompted them to form the Montgomery Improvement Association, where they introduced Montgomery’s newcomer Martin Luther King Jr. to the forefront of one of the nation’s largest catalysts for change. With a larger and more determined mindset, the African American community went on and continued to place “unrelenting determination” onto their efforts toward desegregation. The boycott was important because it placed a people historically marginalized, oppressed, and ridiculed at the front of politics and social change, showing that the African American community would no longer stand for systematic oppression. A large scale of African Americans began to feel like they had the capacity to bring about social change, and with organizing and planning, African American men, women, and children were finally seen at the forefront of large organizations. (Biography.com Editors)

Furthermore, the Montgomery Bus Boycott holds a significant importance in our textbooks as it allowed for a slow, but beneficial shift of cultural values in America. According to Martin Luther King Jr., “before the boycott, African Americans in Montgomery were victims of segregation and poverty,” as a result of the withheld values of white supremacy and minority inferiority within America. However, “it wasn’t until after the boycott when bus desegregation was achieved” when blacks finally reached “a new level of self-respect” (King, 28; 187; Stride Toward Freedom). As a result of the boycotts, African Americans shifted their perception of self from “inferior” to one hundred percent “capable.” Rather than seeing themselves as inferior to America, they began to take it upon their own hands to redefine the cultural values of America and reinforce that blacks and other minorities were equals to whites in society. The realization was not only clear to the African American community. With the help of the boycott, whites, too, accepted the changes of cultural values in America, claiming that they